


Operating Status Normal

by tensofthousandsoftinyships (evilolive)



Category: The Fosters (TV 2013)
Genre: Adorable, Fluff, M/M, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-08
Updated: 2015-06-08
Packaged: 2018-04-03 12:47:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4101517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/evilolive/pseuds/tensofthousandsoftinyships
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jude and Connor meet after school and take the next step in their relationship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Operating Status Normal

Jude had decided the best place to do it was the diner.  Trusting his boyfriend’s judgment on these matters, Connor went along with it, and met him there after school. Callie was working in the kitchen, so they were served by Daphne. Connor had a big plate of fries in front of him and Jude had a coke.

Both of them were feeling nervous but they weren’t talking about it. Instead, Jude was talking about the ridiculous amounts of homework that eighth grade was turning out to involve, the video game he was stuck on and the beach trip they were planning at the weekend: anything, it seemed, apart from what they were about to do. Connor was munching his fries and replying in monosyllables. When Jude asked him for the third time if he was planning to ride his bike to the beach or have his dad drop him off, Connor realised it was up to him to take the initiative. “Are we doing this today, or what?

“Sure. In a minute.”

Jude slurped his Coke and gave a huge, extended belch. He giggled and put his straw back in his mouth to do it again. It looked really cute but Connor needed to move things along. He raised an eyebrow.  

“It’s fine if you don’t want to. We don’t have to.”

“I do want to.” Jude buried his face in his straw and stared at the table top.

“It’s just, I need to get home, so…”

Connor’s dad was strict about the time he got home from school. Adam worried about Connor and Jude—boyfriends now for the past six months—walking home together and his way of dealing with it was an open door policy. Jude was allowed to come over to the Stevens’ house and hang out whenever it suited both sets of parents and in exchange Connor did not make a fuss about observing his curfew.

Connor was starting to feel impatient with Jude and impatient with himself for feeling impatient. He knew that was no good because Jude needed reassurance, not pressure. To calm himself, he stuck a big handful of fries in his mouth and munched it before saying anything else.

“You know, I’m a bit scared myself.”

“Are you?” Jude raised his head and fixed his gaze on Connor’s face. His eyebrows were pulled together and his eyes were darker and more opaque than usual.

“Sure. Things are going to change. Maybe we should wait a bit longer.” Connor stuffed another handful of fries in his mouth and started to wipe his hands on his napkin, face carefully still. He was feeling disappointed and rejected. He planned to get home before falling apart, so focused on the matter in hand to distract himself. There was nothing left for him to do or say.  

Connor’s sadness was coming off him in waves. Jude could feel it and was immediately consumed with rage at his own cowardliness and hesitation. He reached over the table and placed a hand gently over Connor’s greasy ones. “We talked about this and we agreed, so we’re doing it, right?” He took a final slurp and the gurgle of liquid and air mixing in the bottom of the cup signalled he was done. 

Jude pulled his phone out of his back pocket and set it on the table in front of him. Connor did the same. They were on the same page, their fingers hovering over the screen when Callie came out of the kitchen.

Callie was tired from flipping burgers and lifting the heavy basket of fries and ready for her break. Seeing Jude and Connor put a smile on her face and she hurried over to talk to them.

Jude grabbed Connor’s hand just before his finger came down on the screen. In that moment, he couldn’t have said why he didn’t want Callie to see what they were doing. An excuse for delay presented itself and he seized it with both hands. Rushing would be a mistake, he rationalised. Stopping Connor from going ahead seemed like the right thing to do.

“Hey, little bro! Hi, Connor! Whatchoodoin?” Callie sat down in the booth and shoved her shoulder against Jude’s.

Connor snatched his hand out of Jude’s and glared at him. Standing up, he picked up his phone and put it away. “I’m going home,” he snapped.

Callie swivelled her eyes from Connor to Jude and back again. She didn’t know what was going on but the tension flying between the two lovebirds was palpable. She slid slowly back along the seat and backed out of the booth. “Oo-ookay, then. I’m just going to…”

Callie pointed and waggled her index fingers vaguely in the direction of a spare booth and departed.

Shocked at Connor’s reaction and sorry for behaving so roughly, Jude folded his hands together on the table in front of him. Keeping his eyes fixed on Connor’s face, he mutely pleaded with him to stay. Half-way out of the booth, Connor hesitated. Furious and hurt, his limbs felt jerky and uncoordinated and he moved from one foot to the other in a St. Vitus’ dance of pain. Time—at least five seconds—passed while Connor struggled to reconcile two conflicting needs:

a) to get home before catching it from his dad;

b) to stay and work things out with his boyfriend.

Good at maths, Connor was a quick thinker when he needed to be. Reading the depth of contrition in Jude’s eyes, he sat back down.

“What was all that about?”

“I don’t know.”

“Why are you embarrassed about people knowing we’re finally doing this?”

“It wasn’t that.”

“Callie’s on our side.”

“I know, she’s cool. I just—I felt like I needed some space for a second.”

“You are not ready to do this. Everyone important in our lives knows already—our families, our friends at school. Let’s just leave it. It’s fine. I love you and that’s all that matters.”  

“I love you, too. I’m ready. Totally ready. One sec.”  

Jude shuffled his butt out of the booth and walked over to where Callie was sitting eating a doughnut and reading a magazine. He sat down opposite her and leaned forward, talking rapidly and wearing his most endearingly earnest expression. Callie twisted around in her seat and pointed at her chest, then her eyes and then at Connor.  _Eye am watching you._  He pretend-shivered in his seat, trying to control the goofy grin plastering itself across his face. Pulling his phone out of his pocket, Jude came back over, accompanied by Callie. By the time they sat down, Connor’s phone was back out and his finger hovering over the screen. Callie sat next to Connor and threw a sisterly arm around his shoulder, squeezing hard. “Love you,” she whispered in his ear.

Smiling, Jude and Connor faced each other across the booth, happy and united. Connor lifted an eyebrow and Jude raised two perfect arches in acknowledgment.

“Ready?”

“Let’s do this.”

_Jude Adams Foster and Connor Stevens are in a relationship._

_Connor Stevens and Jude Adams Foster are in a relationship._

Life was never going to be the same.

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback is love.


End file.
